Hydrogen Fuel Cells

July 19, 2016

In the news release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Headquarters announcing a major step towards resolving last year's VW diesel engine emissions scandal, emphasis is placed on the fairness of the $14.7 Billion partial settlement between Volkswagen, the EPA and California Air Resources Board (CARB). Yes, up to $10.03 billion is set aside to compensate consumers under the program, $2.7 billion will fund projects across the country that will reduce emissions of NOx, and VW will "invest" $2 billion toward improving infrastructure, access and education to support and advance zero emission vehicles (ZEVs). Unfortunately, it appears that in the EPA's eyes, the class of ZEVs that include plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) will receive more assistance than fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). In my eyes, this unequal footing of EVs and FCEVs is not fair.

The text of the partial consent decree details how the $2 billion "investment" by VW will be "invested" over the prescribed 10-year period. Appendix C details the allowable financial assistance for EV charging stations and FCEV hydrogen refueling stations:

60-100% of the cost for EV charging stations, depending on the level of public access, but only

25-35% of the cost for FCEV hydrogen refueling stations, depending on the size of the station (expressed in kg/day.)

Obviously, it appears that the EPA (and CARB) have decided to not use a level playing field, but instead have chosen to provide over twice the financial incentive percentage to electric vehicles, relative to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

This is quite disappointing, especially due to the nascent state of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Anyone familiar with technoeconomic analysis knows that new technologies (e.g. FCEVs) are generally more expensive than more established technologies (e.g. EVs). This is due to the fact that costs always come down as technologies mature, coupled with the fact that the increasing adoption of new technologies leads to economies of replication (hello assembly lines!). On this basis alone, I would recommend that the EPA (and CARB) revise their plans, and allow financial incentives of 60-100% for FCEV refueling stations, matching the incentive rates for battery electric vehicles.

To summarize, it is good that the first VW emissions scandal settlement includes financial incentives to speed the adoption of EVs and FCEVs. Unfortunately, it is bad that the VW settlement provides significantly larger rates of financial incentives for FCEV hydrogen refueling stations.

January 08, 2013

Here is a nice photograph of the late Jim McElroy posing with a Gemini fuel cell module (container only) made from spare parts after the program ended. All the flight hardware burned up in re-entry. The documents on the table are the original GE manuals that were being discarded along with the parts.

January 05, 2013

It is with a heavy heart that I am posting this. Jim McElroy died Thursday (1/3/2012) after suffering a massive stroke. Jim was one of the true fuel cell pioneers beginning as a young engineer at General Electric and ending active at Bloom Energy and Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen. He was not all that welcoming to his supervisor's suggestion to get into the fuel cell group as he did not want to spend his career designing fuel tanks in aircraft wings! Jim was a key person on the team that placed the first PEM fuels cells for a practical application in the Gemini Space Program and over the years he amassed more than 55 patents in this industry. His fertile mind was active right up until his death, guiding a team of young engineers to implement his truly innovative ideas. He was a remarkable man.

I knew Jim from my time at Giner, where I demonstrated an anode tail-gas hydrogen recovery system (utilizing partial-pressure swing adsorption) for Bloom Energy. Jim was a great guy; I am glad I was able to hear some good GE stories from conversations with him and Giner's Tony LaConti (another old-timer from the GE Gemini program who has now passed away.) We will all miss him greatly.

June 20, 2012

Thanks to all of you for following my blog. Rather than writing about some hot clean energy topic, this message is more personal. The time has come where I am looking for new opportunities and challenges in my professional life.

Since graduating from MIT with BS and MS degrees in Chemical Engineering Practice, my experience in the clean energy/green energy/alternative energy industry has been broad and deep. My energy work spans much of the hydrocarbon and electricity value chains, with biomass and nuclear work included. A sampling of my projects includes laboratory- and commercial-scale fluidized bed gasification of biomass, designing an economical cogeneration/district heating/district cooling system for a university hospital complex, computer modeling to automatically determine the minimum system weight of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered unmanned air vehicle (UAV) flying a two-week mission at a 70,000 foot altitude, and developing a water electrolyzer that will be capable of directly filling a fuel cell vehicle’s tank with 5,000 psig hydrogen. That's just the beginning. Ask for my resume for a complete overview.

I have also done a fair amount of pharmaceutical and biotech device development work. My pharmaceutical work involved aseptic fill and finish operations of a controlled-release human growth hormone formulation, while my device development work has included developing the cooling subsystem for a new portable human organ persufflation/transportation device, as well as a portable methanol-fueled infusion fluid warmer. It seems that even my bio-related work involves energy!

Please contact me by posting a comment below if you have (or know of) consulting or employment opportunities that jibe with my experience, would like to network, or to request a copy of my resume. A good overview of my experience and interests can also be found in my LinkedIn profile HERE. Or feel free to contact me through LinkedIn; be sure to request a connection so we can stay in touch.

This is an exciting and upbeat time for me as I seek out new opportunities for work challenges. Thanks for your help and consideration.

Hello Everyone!

Thanks to all of you for following my blog. Rather than writing about some hot clean energy topic, this message is more personal. The time has come where I am looking for new opportunities and challenges in my employment life.

My experience in the alternative energy/green energy/clean energy industry is broad and deep. My energy work spans much of the hydrocarbon and electricity value chains, with biomass and nuclear work included. A sampling of my projects includes laboratory- and commercial-scale fluidized bed gasification of biomass, designing economical cogeneration/district heating/district cooling systems for a university hospital complex, computer modeling to automatically determine the minimum system weight of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered unmanned air vehicle (UAV) flying a two-week mission at a 70,000 foot altitude, and developing a water electrolyzer that will be capable of directly filling a fuel cell vehicle’s tank with 5,000 psig hydrogen. That's just the beginning. Ask for my resume for a complete overview.

I have also done a fair amount of pharmaceutical and biotech device development work. My pharmaceutical work involved aseptic fill and finish operations of a controlled-release human growth hormone formulation, while my device development work has included developing the cooling subsystem for a new portable human organ persufflation/transportation device, as well as a portable methanol-fueled infusion fluid warmer. It seems that even my bio-related work involves energy!

My commitment to and interest in the energy field is evident. My recent participation in MIT Sloan’s “Clean Energy Ventures: Creating Innovative New Businesses Through Entrepreneurial Management,” as part of their Executive Certificate program, is testament to that ongoing dedication to the field.

Please contact me by posting a link on this post if you have (or know of) employment opportunities that jibe with my experience, would like to network, or to request a copy of my resume. A good overview of my experience and interests can also be found my LinkedIn profile HERE. Or feel free to contact me through LinkedIn; be sure to request a connection so we can stay in touch.

June 13, 2012

It looks like Forbes needs more technical fact checkers who are familiar with green energy technologies. In the interim, I provided that service in a comment to an article. Forbes "called out" my comment, meaning they thought it worthwhile.

In Forbes' recent article "Fuel Cells Inching into Power Generation Markets," Ken Silverstein gives a good overview of power generation in the stationary market. He starts the story by discussing how fuel cells are a better fit to today's stationary power market, compared to the automotive fuel cell market. Then the remainder of the article discusses FuelCell Energy, United Technologies, and Bloom Energy's power solutions. Unfortunately, Ken does not discuss the approximately 1,500 fuel cell-powered fork lift trucks that have been installed in the last 3 years.

However, the article's biggest shortcomings involved technical matters. For example, Ken says “Fuel cells work by separating hydrogen from oxygen.” My correction points out that this should read “Fuel cells work by combining hydrogen and oxygen.” Quite a bit of a difference there.

My comment there goes on to point out four additional factual corrections. Feel free to go to Forbes and take issue with my corrections, or add your own comments. For instance, I didn't take issue with his quoted thermal and electrical efficiencies, but some of them do seem a bit off.

The new reversible hydrogen catalyst is based on a nickel-based complex, and has been developed for more than two years. Nickel was selected due to its low cost and abundance, relative to platinum (the conventional reversible hydrogen catalyst.) But unlike solid platinum, this new catalyst is a homogeneous catalyst. In other words, unlike platinum, this catalyst dissolves in a solution. This is a problem for a conventional fuel cell, in that a soluble catalyst will get "washed out" of the fuel cell, and not be available for chemical reactions. Future PNNL work will likely be aimed towards immobilzing the catalyst, so that it can be used in conventional electrochemical conversion devices.

The new bis(diphosphine) nickel(II) complex (see picture) is has a nickel core, with phosphine ligands extending from the nickel center. The catalyst has reversible electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen production and oxidation at low overpotentials, which are characteristic for hydrogenase enzymes. "This [catalyst] has a lower overpotential than we usually find," said Morris Bullock, PhD, Director of the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis. "Sadly, it is also slow."

Hopefully Bullock and associates can continue improving the catalyst, including improving its speed (the kinetics), and make a catalyst that is useful for electrochemical energy conversion. Good luck!

February 01, 2012

On Monday, February 6 from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are putting on a webinar titled "National Hydrogen Learning Demonstration Status." Supported by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Learning Demonstration is coming to a close this quarter. In the webinar you will learn more about DOE and industry metrics such a fuel economy, fuel cell durability, refueling time, and station utilization as well as the status of stations and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) deployed through the project.

In April 2004, DOE selected four teams to take part in the Hydrogen Learning Demonstration. Teams were led by Chevron (team included Hyundai-Kia Motor Co.; UTC Fuel Cells); Daimler (team included BP America; Ballard; DTE Energy; NextEnergy); Ford Motor Company (team included BP America; Ballard; NextEnergy; California Department of General Services; Sacramento Municipal Utility District; Florida Department of Environmental Protection; Progress Energy; City of Taylor, MI; City of Ann Arbor, MI) and General Motors Corp (team included Shell Hydrogen; Viewpoint Systems, Inc.; Quantum Technologies, Inc.; NextEnergy; U.S. Army; U.S. Marine Corps; State of Maryland). Additionally, Air Products and Chemical, Inc. provided station data through its DOE-funded California Hydrogen Infrastructure Project (CHIP).

The vehicle data was collected from 183 fuel cell electric vehicles spanning 154,000 hours of operation, 3.5 million miles, and more than 500,000 trips. Refueling station data was collected from 25 stations, which produced or dispensed 152,000 kg of hydrogen while fueling the vehicles approximately 33,000 times in all. The project was funded through DOE awards totaling $140 million, with an additional $188 million in cost-share provided by industry partners.

Hopefully these DOE and NREL efforts will enable the expansion of domestic fuel cell activities!

I know it is a small point, but was it a spin-off or a purchase? I'm always interested in the details of how companies start. As they say, enquiring minds want to know...

One small clue is that FuelCellsEtc registered their domain on January 11, 2009. So it appears they had been planning the transaction for some time prior to the press release. That means it was almost a three-year quiet roll-out.

October 25, 2011

I got a phone call recently from Ballard Material Products Division about their new "drop-in" alternative to Toray's widely-used carbon fiber paper. The new gas diffusion layer (GDL) material comes in two different thicknesses: AvCarb® MGL190 (or MGL 190, 0.19 mm thick) and MGL370 (or MGL 370, 0.37 mm thick). It is claimed to be a drop-in replacement to Toray's GDL, except at a lower cost. An additional benefit is being U.S.-made, rather than an import, which helps provide domestic content on U.S. Government projects. (Full Disclosure: Ballard has teamed with my employer Giner Electrochemical Systems, LLC. on a U.S. DOE-funded research program to develop modeling of transport phenomena in H2/Air PEM fuel cells.)

Ballard Material Products Division was previously owned by Textron. The Ottawa Business Journal reported in 2001 that Ballard buys Textron unit for $12.8M US. Ballard announced that the deal included 66 patents issued and pending worldwide, covering 14 innovations. Since that time Ballard has not moved the Material Products Division to British Columbia, but allowed it to remain in Lowell, MA.

A Ballard/Toray comparison (left) shows the AvCarb® material at the same thickness, bulk density, and porosity as the Toray material. In addition, the AvCarb® has improved electrical resistivity, incresead flexural strength, tensile strength, and flexural modulus. A sample of both the MGL190 and MGL370 are in-transit to Giner, and will be tested in the coming weeks. We will likely test it for fuel cell, electrolyzer, and possibly other electrochemical applications.

I have not been able to find any information on AvCarb® MGL190 or MGL370 on the Web, so I guess you saw it here first!

September 13, 2011

One of this year's recently-announced 2011 R&D 100 Awards is the Autonomous vehicles, fossil-fuel free. This "Cryo-Force Power-Cell System" (CFPCS) was developed by Sierra Lobo Inc., Milan, Ohio, with funding from the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR), Arlington, Va., and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Newport, R.I. The Award states that the CFPCS is "...an integrated, closed-loop liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen [-fueled] proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system, [and] has been designed to help unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) transition away from large-battery and fossil fuel technologies. ... The significant technological advancement is the integration of cryogenic pure reactants with a fuel cell system while meeting U.S. Navy specifications of storing 50 kg of oxygen and delivering 0.1 to 100 g/min of oxygen to support a 10 kW fuel cell system."

R&D Magazine describes the CFPCS as "Technology: Closed-loop fuel cell power system." Given that this is not what fuel cell people call a closed-loop system (i.e. one that makes its own fuel and oxidizer, A.K.A. a regenerative fuel cell), but merely a fuel cell system that stores it's exhaust (similar to a closed circuit rebreather SCUBA diving system), I thought I'd check for any other product details that needed clarification.

The untitled picture on the left is shown in the R&D Magazine article as if it is a photograph of the new 10 kw Sierra Lobo CFPCS installed in a UUV test bed. Having never heard that the Navy demonstrated a complete cryogenic reactants-based 10 kW PEM fuel cell system in a UUV form factor, I thought I'd look to see what Sierra Lobo has reported. Well, the picture on the right is Sierra Lobo's 1 kWe brassboard test system as it appears on their Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Power Systems page. I had to use Google to find Sierra Lobo's version of the UUV demonstration, and found their YouTube video:

I'm confused why Sierra Lobo has not updated their Web site to include a photograph of their UUV brassboard, or a link to their YouTube video!